Mexico, The Old West and White Sands

So, leaving California was much the same as any other trip in the state- there was a lot of traffic! We got up and straight into the car that morning and found a grocery store to buy breakfast at. This time it was herbed foccacia break and spinach dip for Dominik and I, while the kids ate croissants and then cinnamon buns. Well, that's a bit of variety for you! Soon we were over the State line and were in Arizona. Finally we were seeing  that famous symbol of the state: the Saguaro Cactus! You know, the talk one with arms reaching up, like we used to see in  the Road Runner cartoons. Incidentally, the Road Runner is New Mexico's State bird! At first we only saw one like cactus here and there, but eventually there were loads of them.  We really enjoyed seeing side open spaces in the landscape again, as well as slightly fewer cars on the road. 

Southern Arizona isn't up at a high altitude like the northern part of the state so it is warmer as well as being quite dry.  We, again, had great weather, and the lovely blue sky was suddenly off-set by a vast rolling plain of yellowish sand dunes. Real dunes as you might expect in an African desert! Because it was the weekend people had their dune buggies and motor bikes out and it looked like they were having a great time!  We tried to get closer to take some pictures but the road we tried required a special permit. We hadn't expected to see a real, sandy desert there and it was a good suprise!

So, as we were merrily going along, trying to get to Mesa (near Phoenix) in time for supper, we saw a sign for Mexico. Now, you know that the Interstate that we were on parallels the Mexican border for quite a way, but did you know that the Americans have built a huge fence on the border and that it stretches out for MILES!  Well we figured 'why not....let's go to Mexico!'. So, we drove down south and pulled into a paid parking lot on the U.S. side. In this parking lot we found dozens of cars from Canada! They were mainly from Alberta, British Columbia and a few from Saskatchewan. Walking back and forth across the border were Canadian seniors who live in Arizona in the winter time. A bunch of "snow birds"!  Okay, if it's safe for all these seniors then it's safe for us! It was a small town called San Luis, a few miles from Yuma. We walked over the border without the Mexican authorities even checking our passports! 

It was a Saturday and there was a fiesta going on, but they were celebrating The Day of the Dead. This wasn't really our thing....like Hallowe'en.....shirts and manequins with skulls and skeletons on them and people with white and black face paint. But there was music and decorations and food stalls. There were craft stalls with spray-painted jugs and post boxes and coke bottles. And there were places to buy your cerveza (beer) and margaritas.  Interestingly this town seemed to be a dentist and pharmacy-filled place. As we walked along there was a man at nearly every shop, outside, asking us "Are you looking for a dentist?" "Here- we have a good family dentist. Do you want to see?". "Do you need medicine? We have lots of medicine here!" Hmmm....I wouldn't be in Mexico looking for a dentist. No, I have never thought about that. Maybe they have cheaper medicine.....but no thanks. I'm not in the market for a bulk carton of Alka-selzer!

We looked around at everything and then, as we needed to be in Mesa by supper time, we headed back to the border. Going back over takes a little bit of time, and there was a queue, as all the Canadians and Americans went back over and passports had to be checked.  Apparently there are people who treavel to Mexico for a cheap dentist because the older man behind us in the queue had had a tooth out and was still bleeding! He had some gauze but didn't have it packed in his mouth. The blood in his mouth and the spatters on his shirt bore witness to his experience there! 

Crossing back was our first test of the American visa in Dominik's passport. The rest of us, travelling on Canadian passports, have no visa issues, but Austrians (and, I suspect, most Europeans) need a tourist visa which is good for 90 days and multiple entries. This was our test of the multiple entry idea. Thankfully, we had a really nice customs man and we are quickly back in the States.

To celebrate our VERY short Mexican excursion, and the addition of another country to our 'have-visited' list, we found a Mexican Restaurant for lunch (sorry, just a cheap chain).  They had a dollar-menu so we could try all sorry of different variations of tacos, tostadas and burritos! 

Towards sunset the landscape was looking really lovely, the tall, cactuses outlined in the yellowish-orange light, and we wondered why Arizona didn't have a different time zone as it was 6pm as we approached Phoenix and it was getting dark so quickly. We had 'fallen-back' and gained an hour while in California and while Arizona was in the same zone it really was much darker. So, we arrived at our acandleinthewindow hosts' house at 6pm, just in time! We happily at burgers and chatted and then, to everyones delight, they made s'mores over a campfire in the back yard for dessert! It was later, after the kids and our hosts were in bed that I noticed the clock. It was an hour later than we had thought!!! Arizona doesn't do daylight savings time so, although they were in the same time zone as California when we were last there, now they were on Mountain time instead of Pacific! Oh dear....that meant that we had arrived at 7pm for supper!

On Sunday morning we went with our hosts to church and then left to visit for Rawhide Western Town. Although not an authentic, truly old town, it has been built for the tourists and has various activities and shops. We arrived just in time for a show at the Western Theater. Here the 'Arizona Roughriders' perform a different skit every hour and a half or so, doing stunts and shooting pistols (with blanks, if course!). We ended up watching three shows (the outlaw, the bank robbery and the jail break) and enjoyed them all! We tried out mechanical bull riding, gold panning, donkey riding (kids only), a climbing wall (J&R), and we visited the jail and, of course, the sweet shop!  We stayed until sunset and ran home for supper, this time knowing the right time!

Monday morning we got started a bit later than we had expected, but we had a relaxing breakfast and chat with our host. They had invited us down to the State Capitol building for a tour as their daughter works there, but I, due to a lack of sleep or whatever, was so dizzy that I felt a bit ill and not really ready for a tour. It was a lovely offer but all I wanted to do was sit in the car and have a nap. 

Monday was also Elena's sixth birthday and we had to figure out how to celebrate in the car! We started with singing and then telling Elena that she could choose whenever she wanted for her birthday lunch.  With so many options what did she choose? Yup- MacDonald's.  But this time, as it was her birthday, we let her have a Happy Meal. Shortly after we found a Walmart and I made a quick run in for presents.  We stretched it out by giving her one presents every hour and a half or so, smallest (pack of stickers) to biggest ('Frozen' Elsa fleece blanket).  We had done this for Rebecca a year and a half ago in the way back from Croatia, spreading the gift-giving out over three countries! This time we covered only two States but it was probably the same distance!

So, we arrived in time for supper in Las Cruces, New Mexico and yeah!, there were children for the younger kids to play with.  We were good and hungry and we very happily tucked into braised beef and avocado wraps, made with freshly made tortillas. It was SO good! After putting the kids to bed we had an interesting chat with out hosts about their life in New Mexico, with the military and about adoption as four of their kids are adopted.

The next day was Memorial Day here in the States so both we and the other family headed out for our respective day trips.   We drove out to White Sands National Park, past the missile testing range, armed with four round sleds.  White Sands is just that, an area of dune after dune of white gypsum sand. Although it wasn't hot on the day we went there, we were told that the sand doesn't retain heat and therefore wouldn't burn your feet when it was sunny and hot.  We drive to the back loop of the park, as advised, and found a big dune.  We hiked to the top and the kids started sledding down the dunes on the sleds! It is such a popular thing to do that they actually sell sleds in the park gift shop!  We sledded and ran and jumped and played and came home with sand in our pockets and shoes and..... It was a great time! Fortunately we had been invited to do laundry here before leaving and could leave the extra sand in New Mexico. 

On Wednesday morning we needed to get an early start on our drive to our next stop, the Torchbearer's Center of 'His Hill' in Comfort, TX. We needed this extra time because, not only would it be a long drive, but because we would move into the Central Time Zone and lose an hour as soon as we crossed the Texas border. Dominik and I were up at 6 am and were packed up and had all the kids in the car, some dressed and some not, by just before 7.  It didn't take long to reach El Paso where we hopped over into Texas and the new time zone and picked up breakfast-to-go.  For the rest of that journey you'll have to wait for our next edition, "West Texas Fun"!